A peer-reviewed open-access journal ZooKeys 731: 1–53 (2018) Amphipod family distributions around Iceland 1 doi: 10.3897/zookeys.731.19854 RESEARCH ARTICLE http://zookeys.pensoft.net Launched to accelerate biodiversity research Amphipod family distributions around Iceland Saskia Brix1, Anne-Nina Lörz2, Anna M. Jażdżewska3, Lauren Hughes4, Anne Helene S. Tandberg19, Krzysztof Pabis3, Bente Stransky2, Traudl Krapp-Schickel 6, Jean Claude Sorbe7, Ed Hendrycks8, Wim Vader5, Inmaculada Frutos2, Tammy Horton9, Krzysztof Jażdżewski3, Rachael Peart10, Jan Beermann12,13, Charles Oliver Coleman14, Lene Buhl-Mortensen15, Laure Corbari16, Charlotte Havermans11,12, Ramiro Tato17, Anali Jimenez Campean18 1 Senckenberg am Meer, German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB), c/o Biocenter Grindel, CeNak, Zoological Museum Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg 2 University of Hamburg, Biocenter Grindel, CeNak, Zoological Museum Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg 3 Laboratory of Po- lar Biology and Oceanobiology, Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology, Faculty of Biology and Envi- ronmental Protection, University of Lodz, 12/16 Banacha st., 90-237 Lodz, Poland 4 Natural History Museum, Lon- don, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, United Kingdom 5 Tromsø Museum, University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway 6 Forschungsmuseum A. Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn 7 Station Biologique, 2 rue Jolyet, 33120 Arcachon, France 8 Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Canada 9 National Oceanography Centre, Southam- pton, United Kingdom 10 Coasts and Oceans, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, 301 Evans Bay Pd, Greta Point, Wellington, 6021, New Zealand 11 Marine Zoology, Bremen Marine Ecology (BreMarE), Univer- sity of Bremen, PO Box 330440, 28334 Bremen, Germany 12 Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany 13 Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity, Oldenburg, Germany 14 Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Bio- diversitätsforschung, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin 15 Institute of Marine Research, PB 1870 Nordnes, N-5817 Bergen, Norway 16 Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité ISYEB – UMR 7205 –CNRS, MNHN, UPMC, EPHE, 57 rue Cuvier, CP 26, F-75005, Paris, France 17 Estación de Bioloxía Mariña da Graña. Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Rúa da Ribeira 1-4. A Graña. CP-15590. Ferrol. Galicia (España) 18 Laboratorio de Bentos Marino, Instituto del Mar del Peru, Esquina Gamarra y General Valle, S/N Chucuito, Callao, Peru 19 University Museum of Bergen, PO box 7800, NO 5020 Bergen, Norway Corresponding author: Saskia Brix ([email protected]) Academic editor: J. Svavarsson | Received 31 July 2017 | Accepted 22 November 2017 | Published 23 January 2018 http://zoobank.org/D6762EE5-A42D-417F-9A72-504BE09FA788 Citation: Brix S, Lörz A-N, Jażdżewska AM, Hughes L, Tandberg AHS, Pabis K, Stransky B, Krapp-Schickel T, Sorbe JC, Hendrycks E, Vader W, Frutos I, Horton T, Jażdżewski K, Peart R, Beermann J, Coleman CO, Buhl-Mortensen L, Corbari L, Havermans C, Tato R, Jimenez Campean A (2018) Amphipod family distributions around Iceland. In: Brix S, Lörz A-N, Stransky B, Svavarsson J (Eds) Amphipoda from the IceAGE-project (Icelandic marine Animals: Genetics and Ecology). ZooKeys 731: 1–53. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.731.19854 Copyright Saskia Brix et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 2 Saskia Brix et al. / ZooKeys 731: 1–53 (2018) Abstract Amphipod crustaceans were collected at all 55 stations sampled with an epibenthic sledge during two IceAGE expeditions (Icelandic marine Animals: Genetics and Ecology) in 2011 and 2013. In total, 34 amphipod families and three superfamilies were recorded in the samples. Distribution maps are presented for each taxon along with a summary of the regional taxonomy for the group. Statistical analyses based on presence/absence data revealed a pattern of family distributions that correlated with sampling depth. Clustering according to the geographic location of the stations (northernmost North Atlantic Sea and Arctic Ocean) can also be observed. IceAGE data for the Amphilochidae and Oedicerotidae were analysed on species level; in case of the Amphilochidae they were compared to the fndings from a previous Icelandic benthic survey, BIOICE (Benthic Invertebrates of Icelandic waters), which also identifed a high abundance of amphipod fauna. Keywords Amphipoda, benthos, deep sea, distribution, Greenland-Iceland-Faroe Ridge, subarctic, taxonomy Introduction Te international IceAGE project (Icelandic marine Animals: Genetics and Ecology) fo- cuses on the climatic sensitive region at the northernmost part of the North Atlantic and the Nordic Seas (Greenland, Iceland and Nordic Seas reaching to the North Sea). Te study area is characterised by a steep temperature gradient (< -0.9 °C to 14 °C) as well as several shallow (<800 m) submarine ridges which defne distinct deep marine basins and host cold-water coral reefs along their slopes (Buhl-Mortensen et al. 2015a, b). Pre- vious studies of benthic invertebrates in the North Atlantic and Nordic Seas including the BIOICE (Benthic Invertebrates of Icelandic waters: 1991–2004) and IceAGE (since 2011: see Brix et al. 2014a) projects have shown that within the abundant peracarid crus- tacean fauna, more than 50% of the species are new to science (Błażewicz-Paszkowycz et al. 2014). Tese projects have identifed both broadly and narrowly distributed species in the region (e.g., Weisshappel 2000, 2001, Dauvin et al. 2012), where geographically re- stricted species are distributed to either north or south of Iceland (Svavarsson 1997, Brix and Svavarsson 2010). With cryptic species and species complexes a reoccurring theme for peracarid crustaceans, and particularly for amphipods (Havermans et al. 2013), there can be a signifcant underestimation of regional biodiversity (Just and Wilson 2004). Previous studies have indicated that integrative taxonomic approaches better allow for robust and transparent species delineation (Sites and Marshall 2004, Dayrat 2005, Lea- ché et al. 2009, Padial et al. 2010). In order to best capture the diversity, distribution range and dynamic assemblage of the amphipod crustaceans, the frst two IceAGE expe- ditions in 2011 (M85-3) and 2013 (POS456) expanded upon the traditional sampling and preservation methods from previous studies to incorporate molecular approaches. Despite amphipods being the most common peracarid crustacean order within the IceAGE samples, prior to this study, amphipod crustaceans were underrepresented in project research outputs. Te lack of scientifc focus on this group was largely due to the large amounts of time and specialised expertise required to process the volume of material. At the beginning of the project, more than 66,000 amphipod specimens had been collected and were available for further identifcation (DZMB database, unpub- lished data). Amphipod family distributions around Iceland 3 Identifying amphipods is a complex task and owing to the “taxonomic impedi- ment” the number of amphipod experts worldwide is in decline (Coleman 2015). Taxonomy is the fundamental science for understanding and assessment of biodiver- sity. All ecological and modelling analyses rely on accurate taxonomic information. Considering the known threats to biodiversity, new knowledge of existing species and the discovery of undescribed species from extant collections are urgently required. To overcome this impediment, the IceAGE team initiated several identifcation work- shops. Tese workshops, run by senior experts, aimed to train early career researchers and to improve taxonomic knowledge of the amphipods around Iceland. Here the results from two such workshops are presented. Tese results show the distri- bution patterns for amphipod families identifed from IceAGE samples. For two abundant families, Amphilochidae and Oedicerotidae, species level identifcation is also presented. Materials and methods Te IceAGE project and the expeditions were initiated and coordinated by Sencken- berg am Meer (http://www.iceage-project.org), part of the Senckenberg Forschungsin- stitut und Naturmuseum that serves to link scientists to samples collected by German research vessels and to make this material available. All sorting was handled according to Riehl et al. (2014) using an undisturbed cooling chain protocol. Following the feld- work process and rough sorting of material to coarse identifcation levels, material from the IceAGE expeditions were housed in the Senckenberg “Meteor archives” (http:// www.material-archiv.de/en/home.html). Te IceAGE sampling protocol minimises mechanical and physiological stress to specimens during the on-board rough sorting process. Tis protocol assists in preserving the integrity of the specimens for both mor- phological and molecular analyses (Riehl et al. 2014). In terms of expedition protocol, the sampling included six depth transects (1: Norwegian Channel, 2: Iceland-Faroe Ridge, 3: Iceland Basin, 4: Irminger Basin, 5: Denmark Strait, 6: Norwegian Sea) be- tween 150 and 2850 m (Figure 1), where samples were collected using epibenthic sleds. During both identifcation workshops, sample processing